Asus launches air-purifying monitors starting at $129 — 27-inch and 34-inch models retail for $159 and $359

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According to Asus, the monitors "remove up to 90% of airborne dust in three hours to improve indoor air quality and remove allergens."

Asus VU Air Ionizer Series Monitor
(Image credit: Asus)

Earlier this morning, Asus launched a trio of VU Air Ionizer series monitors: the 23.8-inch IPS panel Asus VU249HFI-W, the 27-inch IPS Asus VU279HFI-W, and the 34-inch VA Asus VU34WCIP-W.

All VU Air Ionizer series monitors have a no-filter "VU Air Ionizer" that Asus claims can clear up to 90% of airborne dust and pollutants from an effective workspace coverage area of 1m³. Though we can certainly see how this can be useful for users in areas with poor air quality, the actual effectiveness of air ionizers as air purifiers is a hotly debated topic.

The two smaller IPS monitors of the Asus VU Air Ionizer series have near-identical specifications. Both target a standard 16:9 1080p resolution at up to 100 Hz on their IPS panels. Meanwhile, the 34-inch VA panel Asus VU34WCIP-W monitor employs a 3440 x 1440 21:9 Ultrawide resolution and aspect ratio but still targets the same 100 Hz refresh and 1 ms MPRT response time.

The VA monitor additionally operates at 300 nits brightness instead of the 250 nits on the IPS monitor, but realistically, none of these are HDR-class displays. However, the VA panel monitor is sure to have the best contrast due to VA's per-pixel dimming, a trait shared with market-leading OLEDs.

Asus VU Air Ionizor Monitor Specifications

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Model Name

Monitor Size and Aspect Ratio

Monitor Resolution

Refresh Rate

Contrast Ratio

Brightness

Panel Type

Asus VU249HFI-W

23.8-inch 16:9 Widescreen

1920 x 1080

100 Hz VRR

1300:1

250 nits

In-Panel Switching (IPS) panel

Asus VU279HFI-W

27-inch 16:9 Widescreen

1920 x 1080

100 Hz VRR

1300:1

250 nits

In-Panel Switching (IPS) panel

Asus VU34WCIP-W

34-inch 21:9 Ultrawide

3440 x 1440

100 Hz VRR

3000:1

300 nits

Vertical Alignment (VA) panel

Unfortunately, historically, VA panels do not share all their traits with market-leading OLEDs. Effectively, VA panels are understood to be an intermediate between TN's lower pricing and IPS's superior color reproduction. They tend to have a slower pixel response time (higher motion blur) than either of those standards. Improvements to VA panels over time have resulted in displays more favorably comparable to good IPS monitors, but outside of high-contrast scenes, IPS still typically looks better across the board.

According to the official specifications provided by Asus, these three monitors should have identical 100 Hz refresh rates, a 1 ms MPRT response time, and "16.7M display colors." However, the VA panels' downsides are worth noting, even if Asus seems confident in the 34-inch Asus VU34WCIP-W model's image quality.

Asus VU Air Ionizer Series Monitor

(Image credit: Asus)

At 100 Hz, though, any reasonable interpretation of 1 ms MPRT response time should still yield a respectable degree of clarity for the refresh rate. 100 Hz seems to be a particularly good fit for the 34-inch model as well, considering just how demanding modern games can still be at 3440 x 1440—and all the monitors come with VRR Adaptive Sync support starting from 48 Hz.

Finally, it's worth noting the pricing of these monitors since they're all already available for purchase. With the Asus VU249HFI-W starting at just $129.99, the Asus VU279HFI-W starting at $159.99, and the Asus VU34WCIP-W leading the series at $359.99, these are some pretty affordable entry-level monitors with a pleasant gimmick. They all also come with a free month of Adobe Creative Cloud.

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Christopher Harper
Christopher Harper
Contributing Writer

Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Sam Hobbs
    Most air ionizers are rated using square feet. What is the rating of the amount of space in square feet covered by these monitors? I see the e coverage area is 1m³; what is the rating in square feet? Probably 1m³ is tiny compared to air ionizers purchased separately.

    When I search the internet for the risks of air ionizers there are plenty of sources saying they can be dangerous because they can produce ozone. I think the article should say something about the risks of air ionizers.
    Reply
  • andrewpong
    Sam Hobbs said:
    Most air ionizers are rated using square feet. What is the rating of the amount of space in square feet covered by these monitors? I see the e coverage area is 1m³; what is the rating in square feet? Probably 1m³ is tiny compared to air ionizers purchased separately.

    When I search the internet for the risks of air ionizers there are plenty of sources saying they can be dangerous because they can produce ozone. I think the article should say something about the risks of air ionizers.
    At first I thought your question was silly, then I thought about it and wondered how square feet converts into volumes, since rooms are 3D spaces. I don't want to dig into this rabbit hole too far, but Energy Star says that a standard room in the US is 8 ft., so I assume our sq. ft, measurements use a height of 8.

    Basically, this monitor purports to clear the air of dust in an area slightly smaller than the average computer desk in a room of average height (~8 ft.)
    Reply
  • Notton
    Ion air filters still require cleaning. Do they understand that the collected dust still has to go somewhere?
    And IDK about you, but I shove my monitor to the back of the desk, making it quite a reach to pull out anything from the back.

    There's so much more with ionized air and how it corrodes plastics and electronics around it.
    Lastly, the most interesting aspect is how they isolate the line noise induced by running a high AC voltage air ionizer in such close proximity to sensitive DC electronics.
    Reply
  • jonaswox
    Why are we acting like OLEDs are perfect in this article when they cant even show proper text currently?

    I would feel cheated with a 1500$ monitor that shows artifacts around text. Im happy to sit on a pumped VA until OLED gets proper lighting volume and pixel structure.

    IPS are rarely sold as high performance gaming monitors anymore, AFAIK. We stayed on TN so long because the downsides of anything better was detrimental to high speed gaming. IPS worth gaming on first appeared around 2012/2013~, and they was expensive , very expensive.

    One thing that I consistently do not want is an expensive monitor with caveats. Why shell out so much money for a monitortechnology that is obviously not properly ready for mass market. I just dont get why people want to be guineapigs at premium prices.

    You can get a plethora of very good performing gaming monitors for candy prices atm. Because of the OLED hype - exploit it, and get an OLED when it is without caveats.
    Reply
  • passivecool
    Spoiler, you breathe highly corrosive and explosive oxygen ALL DAY ;-)
    I have a small ionizer here. I cannot really say that it is effective in dust or pollen filtering, but it smells ... fresh ... when I enter the room. Since I sit in a giant pool of electrostatic smog 12 hours every day anyhow ... I'll leave the tinfoil hat in the drawer on this one. What happens to the collected material over time is an issue. On the other hand, if i look what i have to vacuum out of the pc filters...
    On the whole, I think it is quite a clever and creative marketing idea, so I give it a (y)for effort and creativity.
    I am still waiting for the usb-powered UV-LED-strips to attach to your monitor that give hands and face a tan while you work (i should have patented that before posting)
    Reply
  • micheal_15
    Admin said:
    Asus debuts air purifying IPS monitors.

    Asus launches air-purifying monitors starting at $129 — 27-inch and 34-inch models retail for $159 and $359 : Read more
    This is ASUS. so they'll deny ALL warranties worldwide and dare anyone to sue them. As they've been doing with motherboards, 40x and 50x series GPUs etc etc.

    Basically they're flouting ALL warranty laws across the world until someone stamps on them HARD. Not worth the effort. I'll just buy MSI or something else.
    Reply
  • jonaswox
    passivecool said:
    Spoiler, you breathe highly corrosive and explosive oxygen ALL DAY ;-)
    I have a small ionizer here. I cannot really say that it is effective in dust or pollen filtering, but it smells ... fresh ... when I enter the room. Since I sit in a giant pool of electrostatic smog 12 hours every day anyhow ... I'll leave the tinfoil hat in the drawer on this one. What happens to the collected material over time is an issue. On the other hand, if i look what i have to vacuum out of the pc filters...
    On the whole, I think it is quite a clever and creative marketing idea, so I give it a (y)for effort and creativity.
    I am still waiting for the usb-powered UV-LED-strips to attach to your monitor that give hands and face a tan while you work (i should have patented that before posting)
    Why not also build a refrigerator into the monitor now we are being creative. Maybe a cupboard? I would definitely love some catears and a chocolate smell from my monitor. Im currently working on integrating a soda dispenser into my own monitor, such that I just grab the monitor straw and let the juices flow while ingame.

    Oh I forgot to mention the straw is of course a certified paper straw , we dont wanna risk the environment while bill and Tim travel the world side by side in each of their private jets. Remember that people are gross, so this is completely reasonable to take 2 planes.
    Reply
  • jonaswox
    micheal_15 said:
    This is ASUS. so they'll deny ALL warranties worldwide and dare anyone to sue them. As they've been doing with motherboards, 40x and 50x series GPUs etc etc.

    Basically they're flouting ALL warranty laws across the world until someone stamps on them HARD. Not worth the effort. I'll just buy MSI or something else.
    If you did not use the asus certified filter they obviously cannot honor the warranty. I mean, it has to be ultra premium, but standard filter, with an asus logo - else you are PLAYING WITH FIRE !"!!!!!

    It will be bundled with a custom 12vhpwr connector!
    Reply
  • Sam Hobbs
    andrewpong said:
    Basically, this monitor purports to clear the air of dust in an area slightly smaller than the average computer desk in a room of average height (~8 ft.)

    You are probably correct. I wish they would say something like that officially.

    Notton said:
    Ion air filters still require cleaning. Do they understand that the collected dust still has to go somewhere?

    It is captured by the filter. I usually take the entire device (air filter) outside before opening it when I clean or replace the filter. The instructions for some air filters suggest doing that. When a filter is replaced the dirty filter goes into the trash. Relative to the amount of filtering done, it is probably not as easy to take the entire monitor outside.
    Reply